The student funding team here at Solent University provides professional and impartial funding advice to our students. If you are having issues relating to any of the following, please don't hesitate to get in touch:
- Funding entitlement.
- Tuition fee and maintenance loans.
- Grants, bursaries and scholarships.
- How and when to apply for funding.
- What forms to complete.
- Complex funding matters eg, if you leave/change or suspend your course.
- Claiming estrangement.
- Delayed funding.
- Liaising with Student Finance England, and much more.
In the first instance, please contact the Student Hub on 023 8201 5200 or email student.funding@solent.ac.uk. When emailing, please provide:
- your name, and
- your student ID number
We will always reply to your University email address where possible. If you have a private email, please link it to your University email.
You can also visit us in person during term time in the Student Hub (TS114):
- Monday to Thursday: 8.30am-5pm
- Friday: 8.30am-4.30pm
Please note: times may vary in the event of staff absence and during the holidays.
Need financial advice?
All students who are worried about their financial situation can see a funding adviser during our drop-in times, or via an appointment. You could benefit from this service if you:
- borrow money to pay debts,
- have no idea where your money goes,
- get letters from collection agencies,
- skimp on essentials like food to pay your bills,
- panic every time the post arrives, or
- regularly have to ask your friends/family to lend you money.
The funding advisers can offer you advice on where to get help to negotiate with your creditors.
If you do have to arrange a payment plan with your creditors your credit rating may be affected. However, regularly defaulting on payments or embarking on a spiral of debt is likely to cause much more damage.
You can contact external agencies such as Citizens Advice, Step Change, or National Debt Line, to name a few. Please ensure you look around and choose a free service.
If finances are affecting your mental health or your mental health is affecting your finances, either way, please get advice and support. Please don't suffer in silence thinking it will go away - there's a lot of help you can access. You can find advice and support through MoneySavingExpert in the mental health and debt guide. There is also help available through Step Change.
Budgeting
While at university it is advisable to try to actively manage your money. It's also a good idea to set yourself a budget. Try this simple budget planner to get an idea of your income and expenditure while you're at university. Only budget your maintenance loan and other funds, over the length of the academic year, not 52 weeks.
Your income as a student is generally made up of:
- a maintenance loan and/or a maintenance grant (for pre-2016 entrants only),
- a University bursary,
- extra grants (if you have dependants/disability),
- benefits (if you have dependants/disability),
- part-time work,
- a student overdraft,
- help from family/friends.
From this, you will need to pay for a range of expenditures. These include rent, bills/utilities, food, clothes, course equipment/trips and the cost of socialising.
How much you spend on these items will vary depending on your individual circumstances. When you have an idea of costs, you can begin to work out your own personal budget to ensure you can pay for the essentials without worrying.
Our policies
The student funding team have many policies in place in order to make our service fair and accessible to all students.
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